Obama apologizes for remark

After comparing his bowling to the Special Olympics on "The Tonight Show" Thursday, President Obama called Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver to apologize before the program even aired.

“He expressed his disappointment and he apologized, in a way that was very moving,” Shriver said on ABC's “Good Morning America.” “It’s important to see that words hurt, and words do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seen as humiliating or a put-down of people with special needs do cause pain, and they do result in stereotypes."

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Obama told Shriver he wants to have some Special Olympics competitors over to the White House for basketball or bowling.

Shriver is the son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, President Kennedy's sister.

The president had been making an attempt at self-deprecating humor in his appearance on Jay Leno's show by saying that a recent 129 he scored in the White House bowling alley had been "like Special Olympics, or something."

He and his staff quickly recognized the mistake and moved to limit the damage.

While Obama called Shriver, White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters flying back to Washington with Obama on Air Force One that the president had “made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics.”

“He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world,” Burton said.

Aside from the regrettable appearance of a president even implicitly poking fun at the disabled, Obama’s comments came on the same day that he had appeared with California First Lady Maria Shriver, an early supporter and the sister of Tim Shriver.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the athletic competition for the disabled in 1968.

Even before the Special Olympics remark, the idea of a light-hearted late-night turn was something of a risk for a president in the midst of a recession. And Obama had taken some criticism for it already.

But he shrugged it just a few hours before he taped the show.

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“Now, there are those who say these plans are too ambitious,” Obama said, referring to his agenda during an town hall event. ‘In fact, somebody was saying the other – today, I think – that I shouldn't be on Leno. I can't handle that and the economy at the same time.”

Obama used much of his appearance on the comedy show to discuss the economy but sought to get in some light-hearted quips toward the end of the taping.

He said he had been working on his bowling game just below his new residence and recently rolled a 129.

“That’s very good, Mr. President,” cracked host Jay Leno.

"It's like — it was like Special Olympics, or something," the president replied.

Obama’s bowling skills, or lack thereof, have been a running joke since he fared poorly during an impromptu game at a Pennsylvania bowling alley during the Democratic primary last year.

Obama's line on Leno was reminiscent of a crack at Nancy Reagan he let slip last year.

"I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances," he said at a press conference days after being elected last November, a reference to the former First Lady's consultation with an astrologer during her time in the White House.

Obama called the elderly Reagan after his comment and apologized about what an aide described as "a careless and off-handed remark."